Harvest Monday

I have finally harvested some peas. Even though it seemed to take a while this year I think it was sooner then last year. In the colander is a grouping of every pea I am growing this year:

• Victorian Climbing Shelling Pea
• Cascadia Snap Pea
• Oregon Sugar Snow Pea
• Opal Creek Golden Snap Pea

There will be a stir fry with the snow & snap peas and some steamed peas with the shelling variety. That is all I have for today. There is a bunch of lettuce ready but we are still munching on lettuce from last monday. Be sure to check out what everyone is harvesting on Daphne's page.

I should also mention that I have given up weighting my harvests. It is nice to have a measure of success but it is just to much work. Previously I had to photograph, trim, wash, dry & weight before posting. Without weighting I just have to photograph before posting and I can get the rest done whenever.

Look for a bean post next....

This & That

Today seems like a good day for a this & that post. I took some photo of things I have not update on in a while and what ever else caught my eye. Lets start with peas shall we:



Here are all the peas I am growing. They are just coming into their prime now and I should be able to start harvesting some this weekend. Starting from the left: cascadia snap pea from Laura, victorian shelling pea from Gary, opal creek golden snap pea & oregon sugar snow pea from Miss M. Didn't have to buy many pea seeds this year :-) The golden snap pea is kind of puzzling me, it keeps making pods but they don't grow thick like a snap pea should....

Now onto my Hop vines. I started brewing beer a few months back and so far brewed a pale ale and a porter. I figured if I make my own beer I might as well grow my own hops. There are three vines in the patch, Goldings, Cascade and Nugget. Two are growing up string from the soil to the soffits of the house and the other one is growing up a 15' bamboo pole. They can climb 20' from what I've heard.

First tomatoes are setting. This is the early 'Siletz' plant I started. Given some good weather they should be ready in about 30 days.

All the bush beans are in full bloom and starting to set beans. I ought to do a post just for beans next because I am growing a lot of variety, many of them shared by other bloggers. All the pole beans are climbing well too but no flowers yet. The poles always seem to be later.

Brussels Sprout plants are doing well. This is my third attempt with them with the past two being pretty uneventful. If I don't get a good crop this year it will be the last attempt.

Here is a shot of Purple Sprouting Broccoli from seed shared by Miss M. They are a spring variety so they should produce faster. In behind is lettuce and the rest of the typical broccoli.

All the Potatoes are up as are the weeds. I have a Japanese Weeder that cuts them off just below the surface. It works great but has one flaw, you have to use it......

Last but not least Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce from seed shared by Alex. I am going to use it as cutting lettuce so I can start harvesting some anytime now.

Late Harvest Monday

I am a little late getting my harvest monday post done today which I will get into below. Harvests are still pretty slim. Today we have rhubarb, green onions, little gem romaine & the little bulbs are last years forgotten garlic. I am still waiting on my peas, hopefully I will have some by next week.

Now let the rant begin as to why I am late. Our neighbor who we have a shared driveway with decided to convert her basement into an apartment. The tenants then use our shared drive to access the apartment. Recently the tenants changed, they turned out to be druggy welfare cases and have been causing issues. First their buddy side swiped our porch with his truck and I had to repaint about 10' of post, balusters & decking. Tonight he decided to drive into the back again even though he was told not to and backed into my composter this time. We then had words to put it politely. Phoned the police and apparently they can't do anything, not sure what classes as a property crime! Oh and you can't forget about how the couple fight and go after each other with chairs. Seriously, why would you ever rent to people like this. We need to move to the country so the neighbors are miles away, erg!

Almost Finished Planting

First I will update on the kitty. It is still sitting on my lap and so far has been very mellow and healthy. We have been calling her Charlie. It was my mom's idea and google tells me girls can be called Charlie. Thanks for all the name ideas though! I have searched online for lost cats and e-mailed the local shelter and no one is looking for a cat like this. With it being under 6lbs and all scratched up I am guessing it has not had a home for a while. So it would appear we have a pet, first pet in at least 5 years.

Now onto the planting. I have put in lots of things the last few days. The weather has cooled down from the scorcher we had the last few weeks which has made outdoor work very pleasant. The first thing I will update on is all the tomatoes that I planted.

Here is the main bed of tomatoes, 12 are growing in this spot, all different varieties which I will list below. They are kind of close so I will have to keep up with pruning. Strictly one vine per plant and it will be secured to the bamboo canes.

This is the early tomato that I planted beside the bean trellis. It was not started all that early so it is not the largest. It is flower already though so I am hoping for some tom's in 30days.

I am also trying two upside down tomatoes in 5gal buckets. I drilled large holes in the bottom and planted the tomato with a foam disk around the stem to hold the soil in. I also drilled small holes around the perimeter for drainage. Further detail about the disk can be found at this link.

The last of the tomatoes are a group of three paste tomatoes planted at the top of the garden. They will be tied to sticks as they grow. Here is the long list of tomatoes I am growing this year, one of each pretty much:

• Pink Berkley Tye Die (from Judy last year)
• Variegated Tomato (from Ottawa Gardener last year)
• Brandywine, Suddath's Strain
• Cherokee Purple
• Giant Belgium
• Japanese Trifele Black
• Kellogg's Breafast (from Granny)
• Monomakh's Hat
• Mortgauge Lifter
• Old Time Red & Yellow
• Purple Calabash
• Jersey Devil
• Martinos Roma
• Black Cherry
• Green Zebra
• Sungold
• Velvet Red
• Siletz

A short row of buttercrunch lettuce went in. Love this stuff!

Still in the lettuce department I planted a couple Iceburg
lettuce plants from seed shared by Alex. I am guessing they
grow large so I only planted two.

Lastly a row of Red Celery was planted. I grew this last fall
and liked it. It will be the first time trying it in the summer.

Now all that is left to plant are Cucumbers, Squash, Melons. There also is a few annuals left to put in and red scallions. I'm getting tired of planting.... time to enjoy from the patio!

Peppers Planted

Yesterday I got all the peppers planted. There are 18 plants in total that I started Feb 25th. They were started two per cell and then later potted up to one per cell in these larger cell packs. This year I tried to pot up less and into smaller containers and it worked out well. Here are the varieties I am growing:

The seed for this group was shared by Granny. There are three Golden California Wonder and three Quadrato Rosso D'Asti. Both are sweet peppers.

Here we have six Big Chile II peppers which are an Anaheim type pepper. Heat with them is hit & miss and is quite mild when heat is present. I really liked them last year, good for green chili sauce & salsa.

The last group is a mix of three varieties. Two Ancho, two Pasilla Bajio and two Early Jalapeno. All hot peppers that are on the mild side.